A superb and rare photo of the magnificent Hendry Liddon urging to get into his Austin-Healey 3000 works rally car during the extraordinary heavy 1963 edition of the Liege-Sofia-Liege Rally. Driver Paddy Hopkirk is holding the door open for Liddon to get in so the team would lose as little time as possible during this checkpoint stop at the Yugoslavian border. Moments later Hopkirk and Liddon would start the tricky climb of the Moistrocca Pass. During the stop it was snowing heavily, the weather conditions were not ideal for Hopkirk and Liddon.

Austin-Healey was a one of the most famous British sports car makers. The marque was established through a joint venture arrangement, set up in 1952 between Leonard Lord of the Austin division of the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and Donald Healey, a renowned automotive engineer and designer. Austin-Healey produced cars until 1972 when the 20-year agreement between Healey and Austin came to an end. Donald Healey left the company in 1968 when British Motor Holdings (BMC had merged with Jaguar Cars in 1966 to form BMH) was merged into British Leyland. Healey joined Jensen Motors who had been making the "big Healeys" since their inception in 1952, and became their chairman in 1972. After Donald Healey sold his original business, Donald Healey Motor Company, the Healey brand was registered to a new firm, Healey Automobile Consultants, which the Healey family sold to HFI Automotive in 2005. Three model series were made by Austin-Healey, the 100 , 3000 and the Sprite. The Austin-Healey 3000 was a sports car built from 1959 to 1967, by Jensen Motors for the Austin-Healey marque, and is the best known of the 'big' Healey models. The 3000 was a successful car which won its class in many European rallies in its heyday - and is still used in competition by enthusiasts today. The car was originally to be called the "Mille Miglia" after the famous sports car race, but the displacement-based "3000" name stuck instead. Both the 3000 and the 100 before it were known simply as "the Austin-Healey" in the 1950s, since the company was essentially a single-vehicle marque. The following Austin-Healey 3000 versions were made:

o 1959 - 1961 BN7 Mark I (2 seat), BT7 Mark I (2+2 seats)

o 1961 - 1962 BN7 Mark II (2 seat), BT7 Mark II (2+2 seats), BJ7 Mark II (2 seat)

o 1962 - 1964 BJ7 Mark II (roll-up windows)

o 1964 - 1967 BJ8 Mark III

Liège-Sofia-Liège was a very hard rally, being driven almost flat out from Belgium to Bulgaria and back, through the roughest roads the length of Yugoslavia and over the horrific little passes like the Gavia and the Vivione in the Italian Dolomites. Service was wherever the service crews could reach and was usually limited to a change of tires, refueling and, hopefully, minor repairs, since any time used for service had to be made up on the road by the driver.

This is a very nice and very rare non period photo that reflects a wonderful era of Austin-Healey ‘s automotive history in a wonderful way.  This is your rare chance to own this photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 11.5" (ca. 20 x 29.5 cm).  It makes it perfectly suitable for framing.